The first night in Seoul resulted in an early trip to bed, followed by a morning of getting organized for the two days of meetings we were having with our partner in South Korea.
The meetings on the first day went well, and lasted until about 4 pm. After the meetings, I went for a quick swim in the hotel pool (it was way too warm), before heading down to meet Cyprien.
We headed out to wander around, as there was supposed to be an interesting street market nearby. The rumours turned out to be true, and we spent a few hours wandering the streets checking out all the crazy stuff for sale. We also were brave and tried a bunch of the street food, of which I had heard quite a lot. It was all really different, but most of it was quite tasty. It was a different dinner for sure.
We wandered for a couple of hours before heading back to the hotel to call it a night and get some work done.
The next day, we started the meetings at 9:30 and had another productive day. It had gotten much colder overnight, dropping below freezing for the first time on this trip. At lunch time Jeff and Lee took us to a traditional Korean restaurant. It was a great experience, and the food was really good. There is a communal hot plate where the meat is cooked. Then you take the meat and create lettuce wraps with a bunch of different condiments. It was quite tasty.
Traditional Korean lunch
We want fairly late into the afternoon and wrapped up a couple of successful days. After the meetings I went for a run. There is a large Park across from the hotel that contains the Seoul Tower. I was supposed to run for 30 minutes, but after a questionable decision, it ended up with an hour long run, mostly uphill to the Tower.
Still, it was good to get out, and the scenery was amazing. After having a shower, Cyprien and I hopped in a taxi and headed up to Changdeokgung Palace. Sadly, we discovered that it was closed on Tuesdays and so all we could do was wander around outside. Still, it was pretty amazing to see, and I'm glad we went to see it.
The weather had turned quite cold -5 and -10 with the wind chill, and we were both feeling it. We walked around for a while until we found another place to have dinner. Dinner was similar to lunch - different meat but just as tasty!
After dinner we went back to the hotel and had a last drink in my fancy suite before calling it a night. I really liked Seoul and would like to come back to see more of it.
